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EAST FORTUNE 19/20th JULY 2008

Crikey – the fastest week that ever was. Hardly felt like we had got out of the lorry but it was time to go again! The lorry got a make over on Thursday night with a quick wash outside the house and repacked for Friday. Thanks to Ness City tyres for changing the blown tyre so quickly. Jen, while trying to put it back in the spare wheel carrier, got herself stuck under the lorry, perhaps missing her true vocation as an escapologist – is that the word? Having postponed the engine change in the sidecar we pencilled it back in for the Saturday night at East Fortune, weather dependant.

We were not looking forward to the long haul to East Fortune, hadn’t been since April and getting lazy turning off at Knockhill! We set off as soon as we could hoping that someone would keep us a spot in the paddock. The Nicol’s did – thanks! We set up the awning in record time. Seeing as we are watching the lap times going down thought we might keep track on the setting up and packing away times too! 45 minutes and we were all set up.

An early rise again – not that we have a problem with getting up early! The sidecar was ready for scrutineering first thing and we waited for our warm up session. The weather was not great on Saturday morning and after a short debate on tyres we went for full wets. Ian from Express Tyres had swapped our shredded new rear and the chair over at the last meeting so we were good to go. We got the intermediates ready too just in case. No need, it was very very wet for warm up but we needed the practice. Visibility was poor but we were fourth fastest on the track, although times were not exactly high! Next up was qualifying and it was still wet. Strange that we had been away from the circuit for so long but felt right at home and were going more confidently than ever even in the rotten conditions. We qualified 7th in a field of 19 although 4 of those were Formula 350. Just time to ring the socks out.

The first race was dry and we made a good start finishing 6th with a lap time of 1m 10s. Not bad for our first dry run since April but room for improvement. We lined up for the second race intent on an improvement. It didn’t last long the race was unfortunately red flagged. Brian and Phil Robinson had been leading when they came upon Robin and Annette Daykin in their Formula 350 at Snake. Robin and Annette, also known as Team Past It, were having trouble but didn’t follow the tight line that Brian expected. He caught the outside of their outfit with the chair of his which sent him catapulting over his nose. As we came upon the accident it looked like Phil had fallen out as Brian was sitting in the sidecar at the inside edge of the track. Things are not always what they first appear! Brian was in fact just sitting in the fairing, the sidecar an Phil both lay battered in the crops. Robin had pulled in opposite the paddock entrance and was lying on the ground. Nobody looked in good shape. Thankfully everything can be mended, Phil went to hospital and got out the following Monday, Brian has less meat on his shoulders and the sidecar, well let’s not go there, the fairing got chopped up and left in the skip and the repair bill could be hefty. We hope we see them back out again.

We decided against changing the engine on two counts, firstly Kerr is just getting used to the power delivery of the engine that’s in it and improving with it and secondly, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it!

Our race was not restarted but carried forward to Sunday instead. Dave Atkinson had Tony Belsey on for a race and they were flying he got into a tussle for first place with David Wrinn and Erich Schonwalder but it ended in tears or in oats rather as they both went straight on at Snake. We kept up our pace as best we could but Steven Kershaw and Rob Wilson slipstreamed us into the Esses, our worst corner, and pipped us to the post. We finished 5th improving our lap time to 1m 09s, matching our fastest time of 2007.

Jen’s arm had taken a bit of a stretch and Kerr’s too were a bit pumped up. East Fortune is certainly a more strenuous course on the arms than Knockhill. Taking a calculated guess we sat out the next race thinking that there would be another two to go and that we would do some damage limitation. Securing some liniment for arms, thanks Ian and Leanne, we sat it out. Time penalties abounded with jump starts and chicane cutting but in the end James Neil and Graham Whitehill secured James’ first win for 29 years – well done.

The liniment worked wonders and we were raring to get out for the next race. We would have to watch out for slip streamers this time. We got a good start again and kept the leaders in sight for as long as possible. In the second lap however the red flags were out again, oil had been dropped at railway in spectacular fashion right across the corner. The marshals were quick to get it cleared up but it felt like an age till we got restarted. Only 8 laps this time we would have to make it count. We did nobody sneaked past and we finished in 5th with another 1m 09 sec lap. Next time we are definitely going for 1m 08s. The delays in our race and some solo disasters meant that the Melville Club decided to call early doors and we didn’t get our last race. We were all packed up and on the road before 5pm and home for Moto GP at 10 pm.

We have a few chores to do before our return to East Fortune in August, brakes on the lorry and bearings on the sidecar.

Can’t finish without a quick mention of our latest PR – colour spread in My Weekly! Thanks to Wendy Glass of Digby Brown Racing for the lovely article. Next PR will be the Spinal Injuries Scotland DVD filming at Knockhill on September 7th.

Remember anyone wanting to give passengering a go can take 3 laps of East Fortune at lunchtime on Saturday 16th August. Cost is £20 and proceeds go to the Scottish Sidecar Racing Club. See you there!

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